I had mentioned this in 97Suburban's thread on his rear brake problems, but I figured I'd post in a new thread as this is quite lengthy and it doesn't really pertain to his problem, anyway - didn't want to hijack!

Anyways, I did call my local dealer and he confirmed everything in the article.

Sorry for the awkward reading - I'm not sure how to post pdf files. I've also rad that while this does alleviate the problem, it's not always a cure-all.

Found this thread today. I am having the same issue with my 98 K1500 Suburban. I have been replacing pads TWICE a Year!. The rear driver side shoes, when I pulled the drum, showed no signs of wear. There was oil on tme so I thought that was the cause. I replaced pads and shoes after replacing the wheel bearing seal on the rear axle -this sucked because you have to open the differential to get to it.

Now new pads again- shoes not wearing... WTF?!? I check the forums and see the TSB mentioned. I got the new combination valve and am awaiting the new shoes.

I had a question about the new valve and wondered if you can give any tips on how to replace it?

I never did get the new valve so, no, unfortunately I can't offer any tips or advice. I'm tentative to tear into this because one of my rear bleed screws is broken off and I can't turn the other (afraid to turn too hard as it might break), so I wouldn't be able to successfully bleed the brakes when done. Actually, what I'd really like to do is swap the entire axle for a newer one (from a salvage yard) with disc brakes.

Have you adjusted your rear brakes manually?

There's a lot of knowledgeable people here on this board, so I'm sure someone can offer more help.

If you do get this done, please report back as I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be curious to hear your results.